Experts warn new homes aren’t future-proof
<p dir="ltr">With thousands of new homes being built across <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/building-and-construction/building-activity-australia/latest-release" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/building-consents-issued-april-2022/#:~:text=Key%20facts,the%20year%20ended%20April%202021." target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a>, industry experts have raised concerns that they are already outdated.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In a world of pandemics, working from home, and climate change, experts say these new homes aren’t fit for purpose now, let alone for whatever the future holds.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Electric vehicle charging stations, multi-split air conditioners, double-glazed windows and built-in 5G technology top the list of features that could help achieve this, according to Peter Li, general manager of Sydney-based apartment marketing agency Plus Agency.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Li told the <em><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/what-are-the-top-ways-to-future-proof-your-home-and-increase-its-value-20220729-p5b5nw.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sydney Morning Herald </a></em>that multi-split air conditioners, where air isn’t circulated throughout an apartment block or even a single unit, is particularly crucial in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You basically have your own air within your own property but also within separate rooms. So if someone gets COVID, and they’re isolating in the master room, the other bedrooms won’t be affected,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With a growing market for electric vehicles, Li said charging stations in homes are also key.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“If you compare to Asian countries, a lot of Australian apartment building blocks don’t even have electric vehicle charging stations,” he added.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Even though we are pushing green energy, the buildings don’t come with electric car charging stations, how green is that?”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Li noted that adding these features when homes are first being built will also be cheaper than years down the track, with most of the infrastructure being provided by telcos and electric vehicle companies.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Andy Marlow, an architect and the director of sustainable architecture firm Envirotecture, said a majority of new homes are also “baking in” carbon emissions from the energy used to build and the energy produced to run the home, which Marlow said contributes to emissions and creates health problems.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“These buildings are not fit for purpose now, and they are definitely not fit for purpose in the future,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“When you build something that is substandard, which is basically our entire housing stock, it is very unlikely somebody will fix that soon.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Marlow said the key to building future-proofed homes lies in building comfortable dwellings with good insulation, good quality air, and reliable ventilation, and that existing products like double-glazed windows that address these issues should become standard.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Single glazing is just crap. Science shows us that single glazing will get condensation on it, it’s just physics,” he said, adding that this leads to mould and asthma.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Everything has been solved, every technical problem has been fixed. There’s a wonderful bit of evidence out of California, where they mandated double glazing and within nine months it was cheaper than single glazing.”</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Wealth over shelter</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">Professor Alan March, an expert in urban planning at the University of Melbourne School of Design, explained that the problem stems from the perception of the property market as a vehicle for creating wealth rather than providing shelter.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“The land value and the overall value is so inflated that people are not so interested in the interior and actual benefit they receive from the structure itself as to secure the number, the numeric value, and so that changes the nature of the housing market towards wealth building, or just avoidance of renting,” March said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One feature he said is key for Australian housing is resistance and adaptability to heat waves through natural ventilation and the ability to retrofit cooling systems or integrate battery-powered solar panels.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Though building codes could change to allow for the construction of homes that suit the country’s varying climates, March said recent Covid-induced financial challenges have meant the building and construction industry are and will remain conservative.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With Covid looking to be an ongoing challenge the world will face alongside increasing effects of climate change, here’s hoping that can change before it’s too late. </p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>
